Author Archives: Timothy Burke

Prudence v. Panic

Posted on August 11, 2006 by Timothy Burke

If British authorities want to send people onto planes carrying nothing but their wallets and identification for the next week or so, that is reasonable. No one begrudges them a momentary anxiety about whether they successfully halted the plot. If … Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellany | 7 Comments

Dear David Brooks, Joe Lieberman, Etcetera

Posted on August 11, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Opposing the war in Iraq is not the same as endorsing terrorism. It is not the same as refusing to engage in a protracted military and political struggle against terrorist movements. The war in Iraq is not the war on … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | Comments Off on Dear David Brooks, Joe Lieberman, Etcetera

Litani or Bust?

Posted on August 10, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Like John Quiggan at Crooked Timber, I think for me the first question about Israel, Lebanon and Hizbollah concerns consequences of action. That’s been the primary basis of my anger about the war in Iraq as well. I read Charles … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 4 Comments

ACTA on Core Curriculum

Posted on August 10, 2006 by Timothy Burke

ACTA has a report available online on their recommendations for a core curriculum. It’s actually from 2003, but I guess it has been made available online for the first time. If ACTA wants to figure out what was wrong with … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | Comments Off on ACTA on Core Curriculum

Checking the Reputation Capital Account

Posted on August 10, 2006 by Timothy Burke

I tend to read academic work outside my fields of specialization to a fairly significant extent, which I suppose is not news to anyone who has read this blog for any length of time. Some of what I read I … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Books | 1 Comment

From the Mixed-Up Bookshelves: The Culture of the Copy

Posted on August 9, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Just a quick note on this 1996 book, which makes for an interesting contrast to Norton’s Republic of Signs. I don’t know anything about Hillel Schwartz, though I have two of his books. He’s got a good eye for interesting … Continue reading →

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From the Mixed-Up Bookshelves: Republic of Signs

Posted on August 9, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Continuing my voyage in the Wayback Machine to the early 1990s, I was re-reading Anne Norton’s 1993 work Republic of Signs: Liberal Theory and American Popular Culture. I liked the book when I first read it and I still do. … Continue reading →

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Yay Lamont

Posted on August 9, 2006 by Timothy Burke

While I still think it’s a tactical mistake for Democrats to promise troop withdrawals from Iraq, I’m all for Ned Lamont’s victory. Joseph Lieberman is one of my least favorite politicians ever, and Iraq’s the least of my irritations with … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 5 Comments

We, Myself and Them

Posted on August 8, 2006 by Timothy Burke

One thing I’ve been thinking about in the last two days when I’ve taken a break from writing to catalog books is the academic moment of the early 1990s in the humanities. That’s when I was working on my dissertation, … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Politics, The Mixed-Up Bookshelves | 4 Comments

More on Moral Panic

Posted on August 8, 2006 by Timothy Burke

Thinking again about moral panic this morning while reading through a memoir of a Rhodesian woman, Sally in Rhodesia. In current work, I’m trying to argue that the British Empire in Africa was a messier, more complicated, more mutualistic phenomenon … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa | Comments Off on More on Moral Panic